Smell is one of our strongest senses. Certain scents often remind us of moments (both good and bad) that we first experienced days, weeks, or years ago. Scents can also make be highly effective in helping us distinguish items or locations from one another.
Some businesses (e.g., production studios, movie theaters, and amusement parks) have long attempted to enhance interactive experiences by introducing scents. For example, “Smell-O-Vision” was a system that released scents during the projection of a film so that the viewer could “smell” what was happening in the movie. Similarly, the “Smellitizer” was developed by the Walt Disney Company to deliver faint scents on cue at certain locations, such as attractions (e.g., Soarin' Over California® at Disneyland®) and storefronts (e.g., Main Street Bakery). Scent dispersal systems such as these were often shown to heighten the realism of a fabricated experience, increase sales, and improve customer satisfaction.
Accordingly, entities across different industries have begun using scent as part of a multi-sensory marketing strategy designed to enhance an individual's experience (e.g., of a location or a particular product/service). These enhanced experiences allow customers to develop deeper memories and emotional connections with certain brands, products, services, locations, etc. In fact, some brands have begun using scent to distinguish themselves in the market. Such techniques are generally performed as part of a scent marketing campaign.
Scent marketing campaigns can typically be readily introduced by merchants who occupy a physical storefront. However, scent marketing becomes increasingly difficult as merchants complete more transactions electronically and reduce the number of physical storefronts. Said another way, the proliferation of electronic transactions has made scent marketing more difficult because scents must be delivered to prospective customers.
Scent has also been proposed as one way of increasing the realism of digital content that is experienced by an individual on a computing device, such as a mobile phone, television, or virtual/augmented reality headset. For example, an individual's sense of smell can be tricked by replacing unrelated real-world stimuli with controlled stimuli. But delivering these scents to the individual at the appropriate time(s) in the appropriate amount(s) using conventional technology is difficult and, in many instances, impossible.
Scent is simply one example of a sense that is typically isolated from experiencing content presented by a computing device. In fact, the realism of digital content (e.g., augmented or virtual reality content) has been limited because only a single sense (i.e., the visual sense) is engaged. Increasing the realism and engagement of various experiences will depend on effectively engaging multiple senses (e.g., the olfactory sense, the gustatory sense, and the visual sense) simultaneously or sequentially.
The figures depict various embodiments for the purpose of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following Detailed Description that alternative embodiments of the technology illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the technology.